 |
 |
In a message dated 7/2/98 7:05:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << For many, if not most PWP, there is peristalsis, or slowing, of the gastrointestinal tract.-the throat muscles may not move food as quickly to the stomach -the stomach often takes longer to process the food and empty it into the small intestine (gastroparesis) -the small intestine may take longer to move the bolus of food throughout its length and empty it into the colon -the muscles of the colon move much more slowly, so the bolus remains in the colon longer, turning dry and hard and becoming difficult to pass >> I was amazed to read this about the digestive tract for people with PD as well as reading about all of the people with PD who started with a frozen shoulder. As I mentioned before my mother had a frozen shoulder about 20 years ago. Shortly after that she started developing stomach problems as well as extreme fatigue and weakness. The doctor's continued to act like it was all in her head and that she was just an emotional problem. When her weight had dropped down to a dangerously low anorexic level and she was having severe stomach pain my father managed to get her admitted to the hospital. After performing many tests including an upper GI the doctors told my father they could find nothing wrong and were ready to send her off to a pschiatrist. My father insisted that there had to be something wrong for her to be in so much pain. The doctor's finally agreed to do one last test-an endoscopy of her stomach. They were amazed at what they found. She had 2 ulcers as well as a huge hardened and calcified ball of undigested food, none of which had shown up on the x-rays. No wonder she was in so much pain. She was eventually diagnosed with gastro paresis. The only drugs at the time to treat it were cisipride and domperidone and both were considered experimental medicines back then and she had to have some really barbaric tests done in order to get into the program to receive the drugs. Once excepted into the program she was given domperidone. When the doctors were asked how she got this they couldn't answer. We were given the impression that only diabetics usually get this and that if you got it without being diabetic that it probably had something to do with you being a nervous type person. They could not explain her muscle fatigue and weakness. Therefore my mother spent the next 10 years of her life feeling like nobody believed she was really ill even though she was very disabled. For her the tremors didn't start until much later. By the time it became obvious what was wrong with her, her PD was quite advanced. Why can't they come up with a test for PD that could detect it in the early stages so that people can be treated earlier and not have to experience the humiliation and grief that my mother has had to endure. I just wish my father was alive to see that there was a reason for mom's problems that was not in her head. I would like to know how many others on the list had debillitating symptoms before the tremors appeared. Is it usual for the tremors to appear first or do alot of people experience some of the other problems first and why can't the doctors recognize this? I always believed in my mother because of my own weakness, fatigue, digestive problems and difficulties I have with the right side of my body. Now I am afraid to go see a doctor to have myself evaluated. Kathy